After the excitement of seeing all those whales, we had a different kind of excitement when we left the caravan park (CP) at Hervey Bay. A minor disagreement with the roof over the porch at the Reception of the CP caused a bit of damage to Belle and to the building roof. However it was the kindness and help we got from strangers that made an impression on us. The CP lady referred us to repairers and when we tracked down a guy in a neighbouring town, he told us he was swamped with work but said come over. Saturday lunch time we arrived and he saw us straight away, checked out the problem and did a patch for us that should last four months. He spent an hour fixing our problem and asked for payment of $50. Pretty good country service and friendliness. [We did pay him more than he asked for]. That put us only slightly behind our plan for the day and we did make it to our booked campsite in Deepwater NP, just as darkness hit.
Deepwater National Park – the beach was great and we did some good walks there; including a pre-breakfast morning walk.This was a beautiful beach for long walks – nice hard sand.Our campsite at Deepwater.Another great walk.We didn’t see many animals in the NP, but this goanna paid me a visit one morning. I took the photo leaning out the window of Belle as he came close to check us out.
Next stop was Capricornia Caves, just north of Rockhampton and on the Tropic of Capricorn.
The Tropic of Capricorn lies 23.5 degrees south of the equator and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon.On the tour of the caves we learned that they were first discovered in 1882 by a Norwegian pioneer, John Olsen, who ran them as a family business. Another family, the Augusteyns took them over in 1988 and in 2005 a rich bone deposit of significant fossils was found.Giant fig trees hide the opening to the caves. You can see how their roots travel everywhere in search of water.There are only five of these ferns (tectaria devaxa fern) left in the world and they are in the caves and unlikely to survive, as the caves are ‘dry caves’ now. The surrounding ‘dry rainforest’ has adapted to the decrease in rainfall.Opera performances are held in the large Cathedral Cave, which has great acoustics. We listened to a stunning recording of ‘Allelulia’ complete with a dramatic ‘cave style’ light show, which included complete darkness. Well worth seeing.
After that attraction we headed back to the coast and another lovely beach campsite at Carmila Beach. Managed to get in a very nice 4 km beach walk before dinner.Woke in time to see this beautiful sunrise from my bedroom window.That beautiful beach turned into mud flats at low tide.Somehow Dick managed to get stuck up to his knees in the mud, and then needed to dig his crocs out of the mud. Of course we were at a place without a shower!On the way to Eungella NP, an old favorite camp, we stopped at Finch Hatton gorge, a beautiful gorge area of lush rainforest, named after Finch Hatton, who helped to get the area saved as a national park.As you can see here the waterfall, Araluen Cascades, had lots of water.
We returned to camp at Broken River campground in Eungella NP because its the best place we know to see platypus in the wild. We were not disappointed this time either.
We saw heaps swimming around like this.Dick got a great shot of this guy.Ros and Don (friends from Caloundra) happened to be travelling there as well, so we spent a fabulous day watching platypus play and enjoying spending time together.Our campsite was right beside the river where the platypus were swimming around, so we could eat lunch by the van and watch platypus in the river.
Cape Hillsborough NP is another NP campground on the beach, but this one heavily promotes its 6am kangaroo feeding on the beach. We went to have a look at the park but mostly we needed a CP with laundry and showers.
I was very surprised how many people were excitedly watching the kangaroos on the beach. To be fair most of them seemed like overseas tourists who had never seen a kangaroo before (altho that is unlikely right now). The feeding started at 6am and I took this photo at 6:30am.
If you waited long enough, at least you got to see the sunrise.
After stopping at Airlie Beach so Dick could catch up with an old friend, we drove to Shute Harbor and then on to Bowen for some rest days in luxury (that means we had an ensuite site in the caravan park).
Enjoyed sunset drinks and nibbles with Ros & Don plus their friends, Anne and Craig, in front of their place in Bowen.
Spoiled ourselves with fresh prawns one day and fish and chips the next; plus a bit of tv and of course more beach walks. Somehow four days passed very quickly and we caught up on lots of phone calls, emails, blog work, ukulele practising plus we made a video birthday card for Amy.
Checking out the view from Flagstaff Lookout in Bowen.I thought this piece of driftwood looked like a seal so got close to give him a kiss! That was the beach where our CP was located, and it was great to march out a good 5 k walk there.Revisited another favorite spot in Townsville, a CP with a nice hot spa pool. Dick made a little wooden stand for the iphone so we can take our own selfies without looking so inept.Had a good visit with Explorer friends, Wendy and Sandy, and gave them a tour of Belle. Always lots to talk about with Explorer friends.Dick is trying hard to keep going with his balance classes, and since he did them by Zoom in Sydney; he is able to continue them as long as we can stop some where with internet. This time we stopped at the dam in Townsville.I walked up to the top of the Ross River Dam wall and learned that the dam provides a water supply and flood control. At over 8km long with an average height of 27 meters, it is the longest wall of its type in Australia.We were aiming for a camp at Bingil Bay but it was full so we drove to Mission Beach/Wongaling Beach and found a spot near the beach. Had another good beach walk, opposite Dunk Island and other smaller islands.The campsite was fine but when we were late checking out in the morning, the owner asked us to leave the park. Dick made a smartass comment and the guy threatened to get his bulldozer and push us over. Although it was not a nice way to leave, (and from other comments, we were not the first to encounter his rudeness), it was very unusual as we generally encounter friendly and helpful people wherever we travel.
On the tour of the caves we learned that they were first discovered in 1882 by a Norwegian pioneer, John Olsen, who ran them as a family business. Another family, the Augusteyns took them over in 1988 and in 2005 a rich bone deposit of significant fossils was found.
